Internet of Things fridges? Pfft. So how does my milk carton know when it's empty?

Re: The internet of fridges

I think this is close:

http://refrigerators.reviewed.com/content/a-hands-on-snapshot-of-new-siemens-camera-fridge

Or:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/quirkys-snapchat-for-grocery-shopping-device-will-remind-you-whats-in-your-fridge/#!Z7ekD

If it takes a picture when you open the door, or, better still, just as you close it, the end result would be a close approximation to the current state.

You brain will still have to remember whether that milk carton was light or heavy and how old the milk was of course.

If only they changed the bar code to put the week or day number of the use-by date on the end, or printed them separately on all sides of the carton(s). Then a camera/software could, at least, tell you what was coming to it's useful end - I could then add a couple of weeks manually.

Re: The internet of fridges

"if the door is shut, the little light is out,"

But is it?

Is there a cat in the fridge as well?

Re: The internet of fridges

No, optical isn't necessary. RFID does the task.

"Terrific. How does it know it needs topping up? No, really. How does the fridge know it's running out of milk, butter and cheese? These things are just cartons or plastic bags with stuff inside them. How does a freakin' fridge know what's inside them? Is it supposed to have some form of food item pattern recognition capability that can also detect actual amounts of solid or fluid foodstuffs?"

We're not far away from RFID price tags and expiration dates. We can use temperature sensitive "stripes" as part of this, which then can determine things like the full-ness of a gallon of milk or a box of butter. Some other items obviously get harder, like a head of lettuce, but other items are easy like cups of yogurt.

The other option is weight based shelves. The fridge knows what is on the shelf so it knows what the weight should be. It counts out things it knows like the aforementioned yogurt and milk. It knows how much a box of butter should weigh and a head of lettuce, so it can "guess" the level of butter/lettuce within a reasonable rate, combining some optical sensors for things like size of the head of lettuce.

Re: Devil's advocate says...

Unexpected item in refrigeration area!

Re: Devil's advocate says...

You don't need weight sensors or Magic Milk Measuring Things.

You just need some shelf-life/usage stats and a timed reminder - which are easy enough to organise with an RFID reader.

If you were really clever you could count the number of times the carton was in/out of the fridge, and use that as part of the usage estimate.

You could even - here's a thing - include the use-by date in the RFID tag.

It won't be perfect, but it will be cheap. And good enough for things like bread and milk.

Re: Devil's advocate says...

I think we're far more likely to see ubiquitous RFID tags on everything that has a sell-by or use-by date. In 5-10 years (thinking the average expected lifespan of in-service fridges) I can easily imagine RFID tags being cheap enough to stick on anything from a carton of eggs to a container of yogurt. And if they're cheap enough for that, then they _will_ be on everything, because of the stock-keeping hassles it will reduce for wholesalers/retailers.

So then it's just a matter of your fridge inventorying everything that goes in with an RFID tag. _That_ technology is already cheap enough. Obviously it won't be able to keep track of your fresh vegies, but it can track anything packaged. And assuming you don't put empty packages/containers back in, it can tell you (for instance) you're out of butter. (It won't tell you that there's only enough left for one slice of toast tomorrow morning - at least not at first.)

And who knows, maybe someone bright can figure out a way to use resonance or path timing or who knows what other emergent phenomenon to get a liquid level off a container with an externally-applied RFID tag at a known position. There's loads of people way smarter than I am; I'd be daft to say it can't be done.

Re: Well... let's see...

What when I take several items out at once when cooking (as I try to be efficient when I'm organised), and then put them back in together? Which item lost how much weight?

What about left-overs. I regualarly cook for more people than are present, in order to freeze leftover portions, so I have (actually edible) ready-meals available to me.

How much in any fridge is staples, to be instantly replaced and how much is what's available or on offer? Not including parties. My fridge should always contain eggs, milk, limes, fruit juice, various condiments, yoghurt and cheese. Anything else depends on what I could find, or who's coming round for dinner.

What about using multiple suppliers? I have a greengrocer at the end of my road. I try to buy all my veg from them, unless laziness kicks in and I'm in Sainsbury's anyway.

What's the point of filling out only a third of my shop? Only about 30-40% of any shop goes in the fridge. The rest is cupboards, bathrooms, laundry cupboard.

How much is this bloody fridge going to cost? And how long before it breaks down? It's got multiple cameras, multiple weight sensors. What happens when the bulb goes in the fridge, and no-one can be arsed to replace it, so the cameras can't see anything? I'm prepared to believe that the cameras will survive cold and condensation - but not the weighing shelves getting stuff plonked on them every couple of hours, and water dripped on them. And I'd worry for the touchscreen on the door too.

In my opinion the answer is twofold. Online shopping is good. Have a tablet, wander round kitchen, look in fridge, freezer and cupboards, see what's missing, pick from list of favourites on website, order.

But I still prefer to go to the shop. So for me, shopping list app on smartphone. When you use the last but one of something, take phone from pocket, add to list. After you've typed the first few letters, it auto-completes if it's something you've used before.

The internet of fridges is still way too complicated.

Re: RFID

I was thinking along the same lines, but then thought all items have barcodes and barcode apps are available for smart phones and I could start scanning today, I think the problem for me is, I can't be arsed :-)

Re: Am I the only one who gets this?

Yeah... if you need a s hopping list telling you to buy stuff you still have

Re: Am I the only one who gets this?

Anon,

I'm guessing you don't have kids. The milk doesn't go back into the fridge until someone sees it on the counter, and shoves it back in. Or in fact guests. Where the milk may be on the table by the tea and coffee stuff for 10 minutes.

The same is definitely true for cheese, pickle, ketchup, fruit juice.

Some sort of scanner by the bin and recycling might work though?

Re: Electronic Nose

if $ageofmilk >> 3 weeks {

--$quantity[milk];

++$quantity[cheese];

}